Characters in 1.3
Witches:
From the section, the witches seem to be very devlish, and mysterious in their own ways. They seem to be unnoticed by many people and first reveal themselves to Macbeth and Banquo iin this section. The witches seem to have beards and have manly features, but are still women. Witches seem to have magical powers of seeing into the future, and in most cases, can harm anybody that they wish with their magic. They can also suddenly disappear into thin air, and are noticed by Macbeth and Banquo to be very evil, only telling half of the truth.
Macbeth:
Macbeth is very fond of Banquo and tries to act very noble to everyone. He is the main character and shows characteristics of being a hero and a knight. He was very surprised to see the witches and believes in their guesses of his future. At the same time, he is very confused and has the ability to think deeply on situations at hand. Macbeth, unlike Banquo seems to be more likely to fall into traps and in making the mistakes that may change his life forever. When receiving a prize or a gift, he accepts it happily.
Banquo:
Banquo is very brave and noble, and questions a lot about the witches' prophecies. He also cares very much about the safety and the life of Macbeth. He notices that the witches may have only told half the truth, and tells Macbeth to watch out because all that they want is to lead to a person's disaster. Banquo notices his ambitions, but notices that he doesn't need to take the dangerous steps in order to get to his goal, unlike what Macbeth was thinking about, when he thought that he might kill King Duncan.
Ross:
Ross is a messenger of the king.He agrees with the king and his words almost all the time, and believes that Macbeth is a worthy thane. He seems to also be very friendly with Angus.
Angus: Angus seems to be close with the king and even more with Ross. They seem to be close friends or even brothers from the sentence structure and their way of saying a part after each other. He hates those who commit treason from what he says about the thane of Cawdor, and also believes that Macbeth is a worthy thane, much better than the previous thane.
Major Plot events
-Witches tell Hamlet and Banquo about future
-Hamlet being thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor, King of Scotland, and future generations ruling the crown; Banquo produce children to be king
-Witches seem to be very unknown to Hamlet and Banquo, very confused, never seen them before, suddenly disappear
-Ross and Angus inform Macbeth about becoming thane of Cawdor, because former thane commited treason
-Macbeth and Banquo are left shocked, and Macbeth believes that he might kill King Duncan for the throne.
Conflicts
Macbeth and Banquo are very worried, and at the same time very surprised that they are going to be leaders of the nation in the future. They just don't know whether they should trust the witches words and their prophecies and question whether evil has come about or not. The two characters want their futures to be pure and "rich" but they notice that the witches may not be telling the truth. They are just extremely confused of the situation and don't know what they should do with the prophecy.
1.5-6
What do we learn about Lady Macbeth in these scenes?
Lady Macbeth is a very dangerous women with a dangerous mind. She thinks of danger and blood instead of the peace that Macbeth wishes to have. Unlike many of the women, she wants to kill the king so that Macbeth would be able to take the crown. There are many assumptions that she makes about Macbeth which may not be true, and believes that she needs to do the actions for him in order to get the crown. She's exaggerating Macbeth's feelings a little too much, and thinks as if she has to do something to give what he needs. The images that she is thinking are very gory and with ideas of evil and pain that she wants to give out to others.
How might Lady Macbeth answer the question “What is the meaning of life?” Explain your answer.
The meaning of life for her would be obtaining what she wants. Life for her is reaching and attacking for the goal in any means possible. Just getting to each of the goals that she set up would be her meaning of life. In the passages where she speaks out to herself about Macbeth not having the skills that will help him get to the top, and her ideas of having the murderous thoughts makes it seem as if she is just trying to get Macbeth to obtaining the crown even if it would require murdering the king. Lady Macbeth's meaning of life, I think is just getting to the goals that she has set up in her life from the lines she has said in act one scene five and six.
Identify and write out two of Lady Macbeth’s lines that are particularly striking. Explain why you selected the lines.
Make thick my blood.
(Act 1 Scene 5 Line 33)
This line said by Lady Macbeth is very interesting and also very unique. She says a line that many people today would call a "psychopath" in the sense that she acts very much like a murderer unlike a partner of a thane. She wants to "thick her blood," which means that she doesn't want to be like the regular general population of humans believing in remorse and human compassion, but with cruelty and murderous thoughts. The line could have been interpreted in many different ways which had received my attention right away.
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry “Hold, hold!”
(Act 1 Scene 5 Line 44-45)
This line was also very striking, because of the structures of the sentence and the words that were said. In here, she talks about religion where she wants darkness that surrounds the castle so that no pure "beings" from above would be able to see what she does during the night. The phrase "blanket of the dark" could have been imagined perfectly in my head, like clouds of darkness surrounding the castle like a barrier. Also, the words, "Hold, hold" was very meaningful because it had sounded as if heaven would be sort of like begging to the evil to let the light through the blanket of darkness. From these lines, the ideas of Lady Macbeth were shown very clearly and how much devilish ideas she had in her mind.
Identify one significant word that Lady Macbeth uses in 1.5 or 1.6, and define both the denotation and connotation of the word. Explain why you think the word is significant.
illness (act 1 Scene 5 Line 7)
Denotation: A disease or a period of sickness that affects the mind or body
Connotation: Mean ideas and actions
This word is very significant because it tells about how Lady Macbeth thinks about Macbeth's ambitions. Even though she knows he has the ambitions of trying to become king, she says that he doesn't have the deadly thoughts or the "illness" that would provide him to achieving them. From the word, she truly tells that she doesn't think that killing and murdering for gains is the way in life. Even though she may do it so that Macbeth would become king, she tells from this word, that it's not necessarily the good thing to do, which was unlike the ideas that she presented later.
Discussion Preparation
Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth into killing the King.
(Act 1 scene 7 Line 49-- Line 60)
The witches give Macbeth the prophecy into killing King Duncan, which gives him the motivation
(Act 1 Scene 3)
If we should fail?
(Act 1 Scene 7 Line 49)
And live a coward in thine own esteem
(Act 1 Scene 7 Line 44)
Mainly, because of the prophecy and because the son was going to become king next, it had made him and Lady Macbeth into killing the King once and for all so that he could be king. The prophecy told by the witches gave Macbeth the belief that he might become King next, and after the prophecy, he had chosen to kill King Duncan to become to king and not the son of Duncan. Also, when Macbeth heard about Duncan's son to be king next, he was worried and wanted to make it a self-prophecy. The persuasive words by Lady Macbeth had also given him the idea of killing him.
Why has Macbeth decided to kill King Duncan by the end of Act 1?
Macbeth had decided to kill the king because of the persuasive words said by Lady Macbeth. Even though he had resisted to kill him at the beginning of the scene, Lady Macbeth uses words of persuasion and offends Macbeth into making his final choice. Macbeth was in the middle of the decision between murdering him and letting the situation go, but as he listened to Lady Macbeth talk him into the act, his idea of killing King Duncan came back to him. He could only think about his ambitions and the success that he believes he is going to earn by killing the King and in obtaining the throne once and for all. He doesn't want to get caught and he believes that he's going to succeed in the end, which helps him make the decision of killing King Duncan by the end of Act 1. The actions and the belief that he's going to become a more powerful man out powered his thoughts of "hanging back" on his thoughts of being a good thane to the king.
ACT II
How does Macbeth react to the killing of Duncan? Why does he react this way?
Before he goes on to killing Duncan, he is in a state of anxiety, as people could see in Act 2 Scene 1 lines 37-39,
....oh art thou but
A dagger of the mimd, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain
He sees this mental vision of a bloody dagger and thinks that it is a sign for him to go on forward with the act. It helps him boost his own ambitions to proceed with his plan. He thinks of himself as close to Tarquin, the Roman tyrant, who used the night for the bad deeds that he planned. After a bell has rung, he decides to go on with the murder, as shown in Act 2 Scene 2 Line 21, where he says, "I've done the deed," to his wife.
At this point, he shows signs of hysteria and chaotic thoughts. He keeps on complaining about a knowcking sound. He has uneasy feelings of wondering who might have been up during his act, and even after killing the king, he still had the dagger with him. He starts panicking and decides that he won't go back to place the bloody daggers to the guards who were going to be framed. Near the end of the scene, he shows a lot of regret as he realizes the seriousness of the problem that he has caused. He now knows that he won't be ableto sleep because of the evil deed that he has done, and he shows this with the words that he hears inside his head of someone saying,
"Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house:
'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor
SHall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more.'"
And by the end of Scene two he, says
Wake Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou couldst (Act 2 Scene 2 Line 73) and shows his real fear and regret for his actions. He notices that he shouldn't have acted in the way, and that he had caused one of the worst crimes in the country of killing the king. By end of Scene two, he is frightened and shocked that he had killed the King, the one who had given him power and wealth in the kingdom.
How does Lady Macbeth react to the killing of Duncan? Why does she react this way?
Lady Macbeth from the killing and afterward tries to show support for her husband's actions and tries to calm him down by taking the daggers back to the sleepy knights and smearing them with the king's blood. She tries to be calm in the situations by advising Macbeth with the words,
"These deeds must not be thought
After these ways: so, it will make us mad." (Act 2 Scene 2 Line 32-33)
And
Consider it not so deeply (Act 2 scene 2 Line 33)
Lady Macbeth tries to keep her feelings of regret and sadness out of her mind, but even with the great ambitions and power, she still shows bits of human feelings throughout the act. Even with all the strength related to evil which she has in her mind, she is still somewhat "jumpy" from the different sounds that are made throughout the castle. Just like Macbeth, she is somewhat scared for the murder that she had planned out, but stays more calm than Macbeth, who was a with overwhelming thoughts. She keeps Macbeth under her arms and tells him that he would need to calm down in order for the murder plan to succeed. Throughout the act, she continues to be supportive and refers to his noble strengths so that Macbeth doesn't ruin the plan by revealing it to the people in the castle.
3.5
Hecate becomes very mad at the witches for conversing with Macbeth about his prophecy and Lennox and his allies have a conversation about Macbeth and also the location of each of the specific characters.
3.6
People have become suspicious about Macbeth. Many people now believe that Macbeth has committed murders, and by calling him a tyrant, they hope to get back the power from Macbeth by creating a plan.
4.1 What does Macbeth want in this scene?
Macbeth wants to find out who’s trying to capture his crown to the kingdom and if he is safe with the crown. He also wants to figure out from the witches where Macduff is currently at. He wants to know these information from the witches, who warm them about Macduff.
What stands in his way?
The person that stands in the way of Macbeth is Macduff and also Fleance, who seems to be very suspicious about Macbeth and his tyrant-like demands and actions.
How does Macbeth attempt overcome the obstacles in his way?
Macbeth decides to murder Macduff once and for all with his devious plans. When he has figured out that Macduff has ran away, he decides to kill Macduff's wife and children.
What do the Witches want in this scene?
The witches are trying to make Macbeth much more confused about the prophecy that he has heard from the witches before and also want to get Macbeth to a different path than he might have gone when he didn't hear the prophecy.
How has Macbeth transformed by the end of the play?
By the end of the play, Macbeth can be noticed as a true tyrant with many psychological problems. Unlike in the first acts of the play, Macbeth only has evil inside of him with the ideas of keeping the throne under his control as long as possible. After he had heard the witches tell him further about a prophecy, he becomes paranoid and only thinks about who might kill him. While at the beginning of the play, Macbeth had many feelings such as kindness, and the ability to regret, by the end of the book, Macbeth transformed into a fiend that everyone hated because of his harsh personality and devilish actions.
Macbeth stated,
Go, prick thy face and over-red thy fear,Thou lily-livered boy. What soldiers, patch?Death of thy soul! Those linen cheeks of thineAre counselors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face? (5.3. 16-19)
Macbeth shows tremendous amounts of hate for his people, unlike the respect and kindness that he used to show to everyone. In this passage, he is full of evil and anger by saying, "Thou lily-livered boy," and also, "Death of thy soul! " When the servant had just stated that soldiers were approaching Macbeth becomes angered and says words similar to "Curse you" and "You coward," to the servant. These words suggest that he doesn't care about what other people may think of him. He just seems to care all the time about who might stab him to death in the future.
He also says
She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word.Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. (5.5. 17-28)
In this passage, he shows the biggest change from the beginning of the book. He had loved his wife and believed that she was the person who had helped him strive for his ambitions. In this passage, unlike the beginning, he shows a lack of consideration and thought to his dead wife. It's as if he didn't care what had happened to her. He doesn't show any signs of depression, and doesn't even seem to want to see the dead body of his wife. Also, he had changed his mind about life. While he had believed life to be meaningful and that it was lived to get to certain goals that the person had hoped to achieve, he describes in this passage of life as just a meaningless story by bad actors on stage. All of his basic beliefs in life, such as love, honor, and hope seem to have disappeared from the words said in this passage. The only ideas that he seems to care about are when and by whom he is going to die.
What is the main idea of the story?
The main idea of the story is to be not too greedy with the things that a person may be able to obtain during their lifetime. People should always take care of their families all the time and to be aware of one's own limits to how far they should go on a "gamble." People need to stop when they can when they know that they have a chance of losing everything.
What can we learn from these characters? Select one or two characters and explain your answer.
We can learn that these characters have huge ambitions and idea that they wish to accomplish. From Macbeth, we are able to figure out that he won't stop trying to get power in his lifetime. Even after he heard of the prophecy from the witches, he just kept on striving forth without a stop. The greed that he had to keep the power of the throne made him paranoid and totally evil. He has no way of going back to his previous state of a truthful thane in his life.
Do you see recurring images, words, deeds, situations, consequences, mistakes? Select two items from the preceding list and give examples from the play.
Some of the recurring images were people such as Lady Macbeth having blood on her hands, and always a dark mood filled with evil thoughts and evil deeds, such as Macbeth turning totally evil from his ambitions. It was during Act 2, after King Duncan had died, she had blood in her hands, which showed guilt. There seems to be consequences to all the actions that were done in the whole play. From the death of Banquo, Macbeth saw ghosts which had made him paranoid, death of King Duncan had eventually led to Lady Macbeth being crazy and in leading to her death.
Characters in 1.3
Witches:
From the section, the witches seem to be very devlish, and mysterious in their own ways. They seem to be unnoticed by many people and first reveal themselves to Macbeth and Banquo iin this section. The witches seem to have beards and have manly features, but are still women. Witches seem to have magical powers of seeing into the future, and in most cases, can harm anybody that they wish with their magic. They can also suddenly disappear into thin air, and are noticed by Macbeth and Banquo to be very evil, only telling half of the truth.
Macbeth:
Macbeth is very fond of Banquo and tries to act very noble to everyone. He is the main character and shows characteristics of being a hero and a knight. He was very surprised to see the witches and believes in their guesses of his future. At the same time, he is very confused and has the ability to think deeply on situations at hand. Macbeth, unlike Banquo seems to be more likely to fall into traps and in making the mistakes that may change his life forever. When receiving a prize or a gift, he accepts it happily.
Banquo:
Banquo is very brave and noble, and questions a lot about the witches' prophecies. He also cares very much about the safety and the life of Macbeth. He notices that the witches may have only told half the truth, and tells Macbeth to watch out because all that they want is to lead to a person's disaster. Banquo notices his ambitions, but notices that he doesn't need to take the dangerous steps in order to get to his goal, unlike what Macbeth was thinking about, when he thought that he might kill King Duncan.
Ross:
Ross is a messenger of the king.He agrees with the king and his words almost all the time, and believes that Macbeth is a worthy thane. He seems to also be very friendly with Angus.
Angus: Angus seems to be close with the king and even more with Ross. They seem to be close friends or even brothers from the sentence structure and their way of saying a part after each other. He hates those who commit treason from what he says about the thane of Cawdor, and also believes that Macbeth is a worthy thane, much better than the previous thane.
Major Plot events
-Witches tell Hamlet and Banquo about future
-Hamlet being thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor, King of Scotland, and future generations ruling the crown; Banquo produce children to be king
-Witches seem to be very unknown to Hamlet and Banquo, very confused, never seen them before, suddenly disappear
-Ross and Angus inform Macbeth about becoming thane of Cawdor, because former thane commited treason
-Macbeth and Banquo are left shocked, and Macbeth believes that he might kill King Duncan for the throne.
Conflicts
Macbeth and Banquo are very worried, and at the same time very surprised that they are going to be leaders of the nation in the future. They just don't know whether they should trust the witches words and their prophecies and question whether evil has come about or not. The two characters want their futures to be pure and "rich" but they notice that the witches may not be telling the truth. They are just extremely confused of the situation and don't know what they should do with the prophecy.
1.5-6
- What do we learn about Lady Macbeth in these scenes?
Lady Macbeth is a very dangerous women with a dangerous mind. She thinks of danger and blood instead of the peace that Macbeth wishes to have. Unlike many of the women, she wants to kill the king so that Macbeth would be able to take the crown. There are many assumptions that she makes about Macbeth which may not be true, and believes that she needs to do the actions for him in order to get the crown. She's exaggerating Macbeth's feelings a little too much, and thinks as if she has to do something to give what he needs. The images that she is thinking are very gory and with ideas of evil and pain that she wants to give out to others.- How might Lady Macbeth answer the question “What is the meaning of life?” Explain your answer.
The meaning of life for her would be obtaining what she wants. Life for her is reaching and attacking for the goal in any means possible. Just getting to each of the goals that she set up would be her meaning of life. In the passages where she speaks out to herself about Macbeth not having the skills that will help him get to the top, and her ideas of having the murderous thoughts makes it seem as if she is just trying to get Macbeth to obtaining the crown even if it would require murdering the king. Lady Macbeth's meaning of life, I think is just getting to the goals that she has set up in her life from the lines she has said in act one scene five and six.- Identify and write out two of Lady Macbeth’s lines that are particularly striking. Explain why you selected the lines.
Make thick my blood.(Act 1 Scene 5 Line 33)
This line said by Lady Macbeth is very interesting and also very unique. She says a line that many people today would call a "psychopath" in the sense that she acts very much like a murderer unlike a partner of a thane. She wants to "thick her blood," which means that she doesn't want to be like the regular general population of humans believing in remorse and human compassion, but with cruelty and murderous thoughts. The line could have been interpreted in many different ways which had received my attention right away.
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry “Hold, hold!”
(Act 1 Scene 5 Line 44-45)
This line was also very striking, because of the structures of the sentence and the words that were said. In here, she talks about religion where she wants darkness that surrounds the castle so that no pure "beings" from above would be able to see what she does during the night. The phrase "blanket of the dark" could have been imagined perfectly in my head, like clouds of darkness surrounding the castle like a barrier. Also, the words, "Hold, hold" was very meaningful because it had sounded as if heaven would be sort of like begging to the evil to let the light through the blanket of darkness. From these lines, the ideas of Lady Macbeth were shown very clearly and how much devilish ideas she had in her mind.
- Identify one significant word that Lady Macbeth uses in 1.5 or 1.6, and define both the denotation and connotation of the word. Explain why you think the word is significant.
illness (act 1 Scene 5 Line 7)Denotation: A disease or a period of sickness that affects the mind or body
Connotation: Mean ideas and actions
This word is very significant because it tells about how Lady Macbeth thinks about Macbeth's ambitions. Even though she knows he has the ambitions of trying to become king, she says that he doesn't have the deadly thoughts or the "illness" that would provide him to achieving them. From the word, she truly tells that she doesn't think that killing and murdering for gains is the way in life. Even though she may do it so that Macbeth would become king, she tells from this word, that it's not necessarily the good thing to do, which was unlike the ideas that she presented later.
Discussion Preparation
Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth into killing the King.
(Act 1 scene 7 Line 49-- Line 60)
The witches give Macbeth the prophecy into killing King Duncan, which gives him the motivation
(Act 1 Scene 3)
If we should fail?
(Act 1 Scene 7 Line 49)
And live a coward in thine own esteem
(Act 1 Scene 7 Line 44)
Mainly, because of the prophecy and because the son was going to become king next, it had made him and Lady Macbeth into killing the King once and for all so that he could be king. The prophecy told by the witches gave Macbeth the belief that he might become King next, and after the prophecy, he had chosen to kill King Duncan to become to king and not the son of Duncan. Also, when Macbeth heard about Duncan's son to be king next, he was worried and wanted to make it a self-prophecy. The persuasive words by Lady Macbeth had also given him the idea of killing him.
Why has Macbeth decided to kill King Duncan by the end of Act 1?
Macbeth had decided to kill the king because of the persuasive words said by Lady Macbeth. Even though he had resisted to kill him at the beginning of the scene, Lady Macbeth uses words of persuasion and offends Macbeth into making his final choice. Macbeth was in the middle of the decision between murdering him and letting the situation go, but as he listened to Lady Macbeth talk him into the act, his idea of killing King Duncan came back to him. He could only think about his ambitions and the success that he believes he is going to earn by killing the King and in obtaining the throne once and for all. He doesn't want to get caught and he believes that he's going to succeed in the end, which helps him make the decision of killing King Duncan by the end of Act 1. The actions and the belief that he's going to become a more powerful man out powered his thoughts of "hanging back" on his thoughts of being a good thane to the king.
ACT II
- How does Macbeth react to the killing of Duncan? Why does he react this way?
Before he goes on to killing Duncan, he is in a state of anxiety, as people could see in Act 2 Scene 1 lines 37-39,....oh art thou but
A dagger of the mimd, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain
He sees this mental vision of a bloody dagger and thinks that it is a sign for him to go on forward with the act. It helps him boost his own ambitions to proceed with his plan. He thinks of himself as close to Tarquin, the Roman tyrant, who used the night for the bad deeds that he planned. After a bell has rung, he decides to go on with the murder, as shown in Act 2 Scene 2 Line 21, where he says, "I've done the deed," to his wife.
At this point, he shows signs of hysteria and chaotic thoughts. He keeps on complaining about a knowcking sound. He has uneasy feelings of wondering who might have been up during his act, and even after killing the king, he still had the dagger with him. He starts panicking and decides that he won't go back to place the bloody daggers to the guards who were going to be framed. Near the end of the scene, he shows a lot of regret as he realizes the seriousness of the problem that he has caused. He now knows that he won't be ableto sleep because of the evil deed that he has done, and he shows this with the words that he hears inside his head of someone saying,
"Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house:
'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor
SHall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more.'"
And by the end of Scene two he, says
Wake Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou couldst (Act 2 Scene 2 Line 73)
and shows his real fear and regret for his actions. He notices that he shouldn't have acted in the way, and that he had caused one of the worst crimes in the country of killing the king. By end of Scene two, he is frightened and shocked that he had killed the King, the one who had given him power and wealth in the kingdom.
- How does Lady Macbeth react to the killing of Duncan? Why does she react this way?
Lady Macbeth from the killing and afterward tries to show support for her husband's actions and tries to calm him down by taking the daggers back to the sleepy knights and smearing them with the king's blood. She tries to be calm in the situations by advising Macbeth with the words,"These deeds must not be thought
After these ways: so, it will make us mad." (Act 2 Scene 2 Line 32-33)
And
Consider it not so deeply (Act 2 scene 2 Line 33)
Lady Macbeth tries to keep her feelings of regret and sadness out of her mind, but even with the great ambitions and power, she still shows bits of human feelings throughout the act. Even with all the strength related to evil which she has in her mind, she is still somewhat "jumpy" from the different sounds that are made throughout the castle. Just like Macbeth, she is somewhat scared for the murder that she had planned out, but stays more calm than Macbeth, who was a with overwhelming thoughts. She keeps Macbeth under her arms and tells him that he would need to calm down in order for the murder plan to succeed. Throughout the act, she continues to be supportive and refers to his noble strengths so that Macbeth doesn't ruin the plan by revealing it to the people in the castle.
3.5
Hecate becomes very mad at the witches for conversing with Macbeth about his prophecy and Lennox and his allies have a conversation about Macbeth and also the location of each of the specific characters.
3.6
People have become suspicious about Macbeth. Many people now believe that Macbeth has committed murders, and by calling him a tyrant, they hope to get back the power from Macbeth by creating a plan.
4.1
What does Macbeth want in this scene?
Macbeth wants to find out who’s trying to capture his crown to the kingdom and if he is safe with the crown. He also wants to figure out from the witches where Macduff is currently at. He wants to know these information from the witches, who warm them about Macduff.
What stands in his way?
The person that stands in the way of Macbeth is Macduff and also Fleance, who seems to be very suspicious about Macbeth and his tyrant-like demands and actions.
How does Macbeth attempt overcome the obstacles in his way?
Macbeth decides to murder Macduff once and for all with his devious plans. When he has figured out that Macduff has ran away, he decides to kill Macduff's wife and children.
What do the Witches want in this scene?
The witches are trying to make Macbeth much more confused about the prophecy that he has heard from the witches before and also want to get Macbeth to a different path than he might have gone when he didn't hear the prophecy.
How has Macbeth transformed by the end of the play?
By the end of the play, Macbeth can be noticed as a true tyrant with many psychological problems. Unlike in the first acts of the play, Macbeth only has evil inside of him with the ideas of keeping the throne under his control as long as possible. After he had heard the witches tell him further about a prophecy, he becomes paranoid and only thinks about who might kill him. While at the beginning of the play, Macbeth had many feelings such as kindness, and the ability to regret, by the end of the book, Macbeth transformed into a fiend that everyone hated because of his harsh personality and devilish actions.
Macbeth stated,
Go, prick thy face and over-red thy fear,Thou lily-livered boy. What soldiers, patch?Death of thy soul! Those linen cheeks of thineAre counselors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face? (5.3. 16-19)
Macbeth shows tremendous amounts of hate for his people, unlike the respect and kindness that he used to show to everyone. In this passage, he is full of evil and anger by saying, "Thou lily-livered boy," and also, "Death of thy soul! " When the servant had just stated that soldiers were approaching Macbeth becomes angered and says words similar to "Curse you" and "You coward," to the servant. These words suggest that he doesn't care about what other people may think of him. He just seems to care all the time about who might stab him to death in the future.
He also says
She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word.Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. (5.5. 17-28)
In this passage, he shows the biggest change from the beginning of the book. He had loved his wife and believed that she was the person who had helped him strive for his ambitions. In this passage, unlike the beginning, he shows a lack of consideration and thought to his dead wife. It's as if he didn't care what had happened to her. He doesn't show any signs of depression, and doesn't even seem to want to see the dead body of his wife. Also, he had changed his mind about life. While he had believed life to be meaningful and that it was lived to get to certain goals that the person had hoped to achieve, he describes in this passage of life as just a meaningless story by bad actors on stage. All of his basic beliefs in life, such as love, honor, and hope seem to have disappeared from the words said in this passage. The only ideas that he seems to care about are when and by whom he is going to die.
- What is the main idea of the story?
The main idea of the story is to be not too greedy with the things that a person may be able to obtain during their lifetime. People should always take care of their families all the time and to be aware of one's own limits to how far they should go on a "gamble." People need to stop when they can when they know that they have a chance of losing everything.- What can we learn from these characters? Select one or two characters and explain your answer.
We can learn that these characters have huge ambitions and idea that they wish to accomplish. From Macbeth, we are able to figure out that he won't stop trying to get power in his lifetime. Even after he heard of the prophecy from the witches, he just kept on striving forth without a stop. The greed that he had to keep the power of the throne made him paranoid and totally evil. He has no way of going back to his previous state of a truthful thane in his life.- Do you see recurring images, words, deeds, situations, consequences, mistakes? Select two items from the preceding list and give examples from the play.
Some of the recurring images were people such as Lady Macbeth having blood on her hands, and always a dark mood filled with evil thoughts and evil deeds, such as Macbeth turning totally evil from his ambitions. It was during Act 2, after King Duncan had died, she had blood in her hands, which showed guilt. There seems to be consequences to all the actions that were done in the whole play. From the death of Banquo, Macbeth saw ghosts which had made him paranoid, death of King Duncan had eventually led to Lady Macbeth being crazy and in leading to her death.